Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Jeremiah Martinez runs downfield. The Pima Roughriders finished as the 2A State Conference Football Runners-Up after falling 41-24 to Scottsdale Christian Academy in the championship game on Saturday.
Eagles take home first 2A Football Championship in school history
By Jon Johnson
AHWATUKEE – Pima’s stellar season and streak of 25 straight unbeaten games came to an end on Mountain Pointe High School’s field on Saturday at the hands of the Scottsdale Christian Eagles.
“I’m so proud of these young men,” said Scottsdale Christian head coach Mike Sheahan. “It’s a long, long, long, long, road and they bought in the entire time which is hard with the young men in this area of kids but these boys are special and they’re different. I appreciate them.”
A tumultuous second quarter saw three straight Pima turnovers turned into touchdowns for Scottsdale to ultimately doom the Roughriders’ chances at repeating as 2A State Football Champions and the Eagles flew away with the trophy, 41-24.
“The one thing that we didn’t get credit much for this year is we’ve only given up 30 points in the playoffs up in to this point and everybody talks about our offense and all that stuff but we’ve got a bunch of young men who have grown up defensively,” said Sheahan. “We played a physical game on defense. We just did what we wanted to do. We were able to control the ball both sides of the ball.” (sic)
After the game, Pima head coach Josh Wilkins reflected on his relationship with the players, especially the departing seniors.
“These are great young men,” Wilkins said. “They’ve got great things coming in life. I’ve been with most of them for six years. One of them I’ve been with 11 years. It’s been a sheer pleasure.”
After scoring on their initial drive, the Roughriders committed eight straight turnovers between the first and fourth quarters and found themselves down 41-8 with just 8 minutes left in the game. Pima wouldn’t find the end zone again until less than two minutes remained.
“The boys were playing hard,” Wilkins said. “We had a few mistakes and they definitely jumped on it and made us pay for it. We dug ourselves a little bit more of a hole than we could come out of.”
Scottsdale senior QB Jack Atkinson was a beast on the field, finishing 19-25 for 297 yards, 5 TDs, and 2 INTs for a QB rating of 121.2.
Atkinson’s favorite target on the night was Andrew Trapp who finished with 10 receptions for 184 yards and 2 TDs. Atkinson spread it around and also threw TD passes to Harrison Gurash, Davin Rucker, and Hunter Wales.
“Offense, it’s electric right,” said Sheahan. “We can score from anywhere on the field at any time. We’ve got Trapp and Atkinson and Harry Gurash, and Davin Rucker; I mean, I can keep going, right? We threw it to a 6’7” kid in the corner at the end of the half, Hunter Wales, and he catches the ball and we go up and the momentum swings from there.”
Pima started freshman QB Cedrick Grimes who had been outstanding in the final games of the season and playoffs and then switched to previous starter junior Rhett Hughes at the half.
Grimes finished 5-8 for 67 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs for a QB rating of 89.1; while Hughes went 7-19 for 90 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs for a QB rating of 30.5.
Tuddy Smart was the outstanding player for Pima, registering 14 total tackles (5 for loss), and 2 INTs on defense while racking up 149 all-purpose yards on offense.
Sam Ray also had a big night for the Roughriders with 7 receptions for 88 yards and 2 TDs, while Jeremiah Martinez finished with 72 yards rushing on 17 carries.
Scottsdale Christian 41 Pima 24
Scottsdale won the toss and called for the ball. The Eagles wasted no time and on 3rd and 2 from their own 39 Andrew Trapp took a short pass from Jack Atkinson and ran 57 yards after the catch for a 61-yard TD to break the ice and put Scottsdale up early, 7-0, with 9:41 left in the first quarter.
Pima looked good early and moved the ball down the field on its first possession with big runs from Hayden Blair and Jeremiah Martinez.
Quarterback Cedrick Grimes also played well early and avoided the pass rush to connect with Sam Ray on a big 18-yard pickup. Grimes finished the possession with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Ray in the back of the end zone. The 2-point conversion was no good and Scottsdale still led, 7-6.
A big kickoff return by Greylin Sia set the Eagles up in Roughriders territory and shortly thereafter Atkinson found Davin Rucker for a 13-yard TD and SCA was up 14-6 with 3:47 left in the first.
Pima came right back with Grimes connecting with Ryker Shupe for 40 yards to the Eagles’ 24. But on 1st and 10 from the 11, Grant Montgomery jumped the Grimes pass for the INT at the 6.
The Roughriders defense got the ball right back, however, when Atkinson saw Pepper Hughes heading his way and just tossed it under pressure while inside the tackle box with nary a receiver in sight for the intentional grounding call in his own end zone for the safety. Scottsdale still led, 14-8, but they would have to kick the ball back to Pima.
Pima then methodically moved the ball down the field as the quarter changed from first to second and with it the balance of the game.
After stopping Pima’s Jeremiah Martinez on 4th and 7 from the Eagles’ own 8, Scottsdale marched 93 yards and scored on a 5-yard TD pass from Atkinson to Harrison Gurash. The extra point was blocked, but instead of Pima going up Scottsdale now had a solid, 20-8 lead.
Then the wheels fell and on the very next offensive play from scrimmage Danny Beran stepped in front of the Grimes offering and Danny took it back 30 yards to the house to put Scottsdale up 27-8 with 3:27 left in the half but the bleeding wasn’t over yet.
Beran then did it on defense as he got his helmet on the ball and knocked it free from Jeremiah Martinez’s grasp. Davin Rucker recovered for the Eagles and Scottsdale had another shot at increasing its lead.
And on 4th down from the 17 with just 1 second left on the clock they did just that as Atkinson tossed it up to 6’7” Hunter Wales, who out-jumped the defense for the touchdown to put Scottsdale up 34-8 at the half.
The Riders made a QB change to junior Rhett Hughes to start the third quarter. Hughes had been the starter prior to being injured.
Hughes seemed a little rusty, coming into the game being down so much, and his first throw on 4th and 3 was a little low and fell incomplete for a turnover on downs.
Pima’s defense stepped up and Preston Russell sacked Atkinson for a big loss. Atkinson lost the ball on the play and Pima recovered for what would likely been a scoop and score but the play was blown dead by the official.
Ryker Shupe then took the ensuing punt back 70 yards for the TD on Pima’s biggest offensive play of the night but it was called back on a bad holding call on a Pima player for a textbook block. (See highlight video)
Ethan Davidson then intercepted a Hughes pass at the 13 and returned it to the 45 to turn the ball back over to Scottsdale. Atkinson then finished his 5 TD night with a 17-yard score to Andrew Trapp on 3rd and 4 to make it 41-8 with 8:08 left in the game.
The Roughriders continued to compete, however, and moved the ball downfield on a run by Martinez and a pivotal screen pass to Smart on 3rd and 11 which he converted to move the sticks.
Hughes then found Hayden Shinkle over the middle down to the 1, and Martinez pounded it in from there. Hayden Blair added the 2-point conversion and it was 41-16 with 1:52 on the clock.
Ryker Shupe then torpedoed his way into snagging the loose ball on the ensuing onside kick and recovered for Pima.
Hughes then went to Sam Ray who took it 29 yards to the 8. Hughes went back to Ray on 4th and goal, and Ray took a shot and held onto the ball for the score to make it 41-24 with 1:24 to play.
“The boys kept fighting to the end,” Wilkins said. “They kept competing and showed some true character out there. (There was a) lot of hard-hitting, flying around to the ball. They were helping each other off the field. That’s fun football right there. I hate that somebody has to lose.”
Unfortunately for the Roughrider faithful, the team could not reproduce another successful onside kick as Scottsdale’s Ethan Wilt secured the ball to effectively end the game. Atkinson took a couple of knees to run out the clock and the Scottsdale Eagles are the 2A State Football Champions with a 41-24 victory over Runner-Up Pima Roughriders.
“We’ve got a bright future to look forward to,” Wilkins said. “We have a lot of young players that contributed a lot this year but it’s just been a pleasure to work with these seniors (and) to work with this coaching staff. To have the support of the community who always been there – always had our back . . . There’s so many people behind the scenes that we’d love to thank and they know who they are and we love you and thank you for that. But for these seniors especially, it’s just been a pleasure to be with you.”
Click here to see the Gila Herald’s Photo Album of the game.
